Helen Bowler (Castle College)
Valuable perspective
I wish to stand for a national NEC seat for the FE sector because, having come to the FE sector quite recently, I have been appalled at the pay and conditions of lecturers. I believe that as a fractional lecturer in adult literacy, I have been at the sharp end of many of the problems affecting FE. Coupled with my relative newness to the sector, I believe I have a unique perspective which will be valuable on the NEC.
I am proud to have played a part in the political side of what our union does and have been active in Unite Against Fascism, Stop the War and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). I was involved in the first two of these from the very beginning as a student. As part of my work for the PSC, I recently visited Jenin in the West Bank where I directly experienced the intimidation, violence and oppression meted out on a daily basis to the Palestinians. Whilst there, I visited the university and met with students and teachers as well as the refugee camp and stayed with a Palestinian family. This gave me an insight into how Palestinians live their lives and how education functions in an area torn apart by continued unrest.
As a member of the NEC, I will campaign for the following:
- The cuts made by this government in adult provision have hit the sector in which I work, particularly hard. They have come despite much talk in the early days of the administration about ‘life long learning’. The trend towards pricing working class adults out of the education market needs to be reversed and I hope to play a part in the fight to make that come about.
- As a fractional lecturer, I know about many of the worst effects of more and more casualisation in FE. These include poor pay and a feeling of constant insecurity. I will campaign vigorously for an end to casual contractual status.
- Having asked many lecturers to state their biggest concern many people cite workload as being even more important than pay. Although I am new to FE, I have become aware that workload has steadily increased over many years. Lecturers teaching over 30 hours per week is not uncommon. This, coupled with increasingly onerous duties outside of the classroom (many of them pointless) is the reason why college lecturers are consistently near or at the top of the unpaid overtime league.
- NATFHE had a proud tradition of being active politically. I am determined to continue this within the UCU. It will also be my policy that the UCU will be a democratic, membership-led union.
- Another proud tradition is our commitment to equality. This also needs to continue. It is very important that the UCU properly represents and organises every group within it and strives to fight oppression. I will campaign strongly to see that this remains the case.
I am 26 years old and an enthusiastic member of UCU. I work in Castle College, a newly merged college in Nottingham, as a fractional Learning Support lecturer. I have worked in FE for a year, having previously taught on an Entry to Employment programme in Adult and Community Education.
UCU involvement at national and branch level:
At local level, I immediately became involved in my branch, quickly taking on the role of Membership Secretary. At regional level, I have regularly attended Area Committee meetings and Regional Councils and, at national level, I participated in the last NATFHE Annual Conference and spoke to an amendment.
In addition, I have been delegated by my branch to the Unite Against Fascism Conference and as part of the UK-Palestine Twinning Network I visited the West Bank in October to show solidarity with the Palestinians. The trip was funded through individual donations and was officially backed by my region.
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